“You planned on leaving,” Jace spits. “You were just going to run away from your problems, away fromusand never fucking look back. You didn’tplanon telling us anything because you were going to be gone before you could get attached.”
I fly to my feet. “I was never going to leave and you know it,” I tell him, trying to defuse his anger.
“Really?” Jace scoffs. “If we’re supposed to be protecting you, then leaving out that your father is a Dark Rider seems like a pretty fucking important detail.”
“I was protectingyou!”My voice breaks.
“You were protecting yourself!” Jace raises his voice.
Alec flinches out of the corner of my eye.
“Jace!” Dominic says sternly. The room falls silent.
Jace breathes heavily, his chest rising from his angry outburst.
His eyes widen as they follow the tear that trickled down my cheek.
I see the moment he realises he’s fucked up.
His hand trembles as he takes a step forward, reaching for me.
“Fuck, Ro, I—“
“How dare you.”
I shrug off the hand someone rests on my shoulder and step up to Jace. The anguish in his eyes isn’t enough to keep my next words from flying out.
“Howfuckingdare you, Jace! I got beaten up every fucking day I was in that house. School was the only shitty reprieve I got, if I wasn’t too broken to walk.” Jace flinches with every word but I’m not done. “I lost you, my brother, Helen and Devon but I was okay with that because I knew that by staying away—by running from my problems—that the people I cared about would be safe. But,” I laugh hysterically, “it turns out that was fucking pointless because you were wasting your life anyway. That’s why you refuse to drink, right? You drank away all your problems. Drank awayme.” I hit the nail on the head, judging by the way Alec’s whispering my name.
“And here I am keeping secrets from the people I’ve grown to lo—care about because I’mprotecting myselfwhen you couldn’t fucking be bothered to tell me the truth!” Tears blur my vision.
“But you were just protecting yourself, right?” I whisper, too broken to keep screaming.
“Rory,” Jace murmurs, anguish clear in his eyes.
I shake my head, wiping the tears from my face but more just replace the ones I brush away.
“I’m sorry.”
Drained and done, I walk around him, telling everyone not to follow me.
The tears burn, sliding down my cheeks as I stumble down the hallway to stare at my bed.
Too many memories. Too much ofhim.I need to be alone.
I continue down the hall until I get to a room I haven’t been in. I push the door open, my eyes immediately falling on the photo frame on the bedside table.
A faint smile dances on Dominic’s face as he stares at Alec curled beside him. His head’s on Dom’s bare chest whose arm is holding him close. Alec’s eyes are closed, a relaxed smile on his face tilted up towards Dom.
A special moment between the two people. One Alec might not even know about.
I drag my eyes away and close Dom’s bedroom door to curl up on his bed. I slide under the sheets, grabbing his pillow and wrapping my arms around it.
I breathe in the scent of cologne and leather and I will myself not to cry.
. . .
Jace ~
